The Ramayana-Book III-Sec 1 Canto XII.: The Heavenly Bow.
Oct 17, 2018 12:01:23 GMT 1
Post by Anne Terri on Oct 17, 2018 12:01:23 GMT 1
"GOD'S LIVING BIBLE ---- THE THIRD TESTAMENT ----- RESEARCH LIBRARY" ©*
THE RÁMÁYAN OF VÁLMÍKI
Translated into English Verse
BY
RALPH T. H. GRIFFITH, M. A.,
[(Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith), b. 1826 d. 1906]
PRINCIPAL OF THE BENARES COLLEGE
London: Trübner & Co.
Benares: E. J. Lazarus and Co.
[1870-1874]
RAMAYANA-
BOOK III
CANTO XII.: THE HEAVENLY BOW.
He spoke: the younger prince obeyed:
Within the bounds his way he made,
And thus addressed, whom first he met,
A pupil of the anchoret:
'Brave Ráma, eldest born, who springs,
From Das'aratha, hither brings
His wife the lady Sítá: he
Would fain the holy hermit see.
Lakshman am I--if happy fame
E'er to thine ears has brought the name--
His younger brother, prompt to do
His will, devoted, fond, and true.
We, through our royal sire's decree,
To the dread woods were forced to flee.
Tell the great Master, I entreat,
Our earnest wish our lord to greet."
He spoke: the hermit rich in store
Of fervid zeal and sacred lore,
Sought the pure shrine which held the fire,
To bear his message to the sire.
Soon as he reached the saint most bright
In sanctity's surpassing might,
He cried, uplifting reverent hands:
'Lord Ráma near thy cottage stands.'
Then spoke Agastya's pupil dear
The message for his lord to hear:
'Ráma and Lakshman, chiefs who spring
From Das'aratha, glorious king,
Thy hermitage e'en now have sought,
And lady Sítá with them brought.
The tamers of the foe are here
To see thee, Master, and revere.
'Tis thine thy further will to say:
Deign to command, and we obey.'
When from his pupil's lips he knew
The presence of the princely two.
And Sítá born to fortune high.
The glorious hermit made reply:
'Great joy at last is mine this day
That Ráma hither finds his way,
For long my soul has yearned to see
The prince who comes to visit me.
Go forth, go forth, and hither bring
The royal three with welcoming:
Lead Ráma in and place him near:
Why stands he not already here?'
Thus ordered by the hermit, who,
Lord of his thought, all dutv knew.
His reverent hands together laid.
The pupil answered and obeyed.
Forth from the place with speed he ran,
To Lakshman came and thus began:
'Where is he? let not Ráma wait,
But speed, the sage to venerate.'
Then with the pupil Lakshman went
Across the hermit settlement,
And showed him Ráma where he stood
With Janak's daughter in the wood.
The pupil then his message spake
Which the kind hermit bade him take;
Then led the honoured Ráma thence
And brought him in with reverence.
As nigh the royal Ráma came
With Lakshman and the Maithil dame,
He viewed the herds of gentle deer
Roaming the garden free from fear.
As through the sacred grove he trod
He viewed the seat of many a God,
Brahmá and Agni, 1 Sun and Moon,
And His who sends each golden boon; 2
Here Vishnu's stood, there Bhaga's 3 shrine,
And there Mahendra's Lord divine;
Here His who formed this earthly frame, 4
His there from whom all beings came. 5
Váyu's, 6 and His who loves to hold
The great noose, Varim 7 mighty-souled:
Here was the Vasus' 8 shrine to see,
Here that of sacred Gáyatrí, 9
The king of serpents 10 here had place,
And he who rules the feathered race. 11
Here Kártikeya, 12 warrior lord,
And there was Justice' King adored.
Then with disciples girt about
The mighty saint himself came out:
Through fierce devotion bright as flame
Before the rest the Master came:
And then to Lakshman, fortune blest,
Ráma these hasty words addressed:
'Behold, Agastya's self draws near,
The mighty saint, whom all revere:
With spirit raised I meet my lord
With richest wealth of penance stored.'
The strong-armed hero spake, and ran
Forward to meet the sunbright man.
Before him, as he came, he bent
And clasped his feet most reverent,
Then rearing up his stately height
Stood suppliant by the anchorite,
While Lakshman's strength and Sítá's grace
Stood by the pride of Raghu's race.
p. 244
The sage his arms round Rama threw
And welcomed him with honours due,
Asked, was all well, with question sweet.
And bade the hero to a seat.
With holy oil he fed the flame,
He brought the gifts which strangers claim,
And kindly waiting on the three
With honours due to high degree,
He gave with hospitable care
A simple hermit's woodland fare.
Then sat the reverend father, first
Of hermits, deep in duty versed.
And thus to suppliant Ráma, bred
In all the lore of virtue, said:
'Did the false hermit, Prince, neglect
To hail his guest with due respect,
He must,--the doom the perjured meet,--
His proper flesh hereafter eat.
A car-borne king a lord who sways
The earth, and virtue's law obeys,
Worthy of highest honour, thou
Hast sought, dear guest, my cottage now.'
He spoke: with fruit and hermit fare,
With every bloom the branches bare,
Agastya graceed his honoured guest,
And thus with gentle words addressed:
'Accept this mighty bow, divine.
Whereon red gold and diamonds shine;
'Twas by the Heavenly Artist planned
For Vishnu's own almighty hand:
This God-sent shaft of sunbright hue,
Whose deadly flight is ever true,
By Lord Mahendra given of yore:
This quiver with its endless store.
Keen arrows hurtling to their aim
Like kindled fires that flash and flame:
Accept, in golden sheath encased,
This sword with hilt of rich gold graced.
Armed, whilom, with this best of bows
Lord Vishnu slew his demon foes,
And mid the dwellers in the skies
Won brilliant glory for his prize.
The bow, the quivers, shaft, and sword
Received from me, O glorious lord:
These conquest to thine arm shall bring,
As thunder to the thunder's King.'
The splendid hermit bade him take
The noble weapons as he spake,
And as the prince accepted each
In words like these renewed his speech:
He spoke: the younger prince obeyed:
Within the bounds his way he made,
And thus addressed, whom first he met,
A pupil of the anchoret:
'Brave Ráma, eldest born, who springs,
From Das'aratha, hither brings
His wife the lady Sítá: he
Would fain the holy hermit see.
Lakshman am I--if happy fame
E'er to thine ears has brought the name--
His younger brother, prompt to do
His will, devoted, fond, and true.
We, through our royal sire's decree,
To the dread woods were forced to flee.
Tell the great Master, I entreat,
Our earnest wish our lord to greet."
He spoke: the hermit rich in store
Of fervid zeal and sacred lore,
Sought the pure shrine which held the fire,
To bear his message to the sire.
Soon as he reached the saint most bright
In sanctity's surpassing might,
He cried, uplifting reverent hands:
'Lord Ráma near thy cottage stands.'
Then spoke Agastya's pupil dear
The message for his lord to hear:
'Ráma and Lakshman, chiefs who spring
From Das'aratha, glorious king,
Thy hermitage e'en now have sought,
And lady Sítá with them brought.
The tamers of the foe are here
To see thee, Master, and revere.
'Tis thine thy further will to say:
Deign to command, and we obey.'
When from his pupil's lips he knew
The presence of the princely two.
And Sítá born to fortune high.
The glorious hermit made reply:
'Great joy at last is mine this day
That Ráma hither finds his way,
For long my soul has yearned to see
The prince who comes to visit me.
Go forth, go forth, and hither bring
The royal three with welcoming:
Lead Ráma in and place him near:
Why stands he not already here?'
Thus ordered by the hermit, who,
Lord of his thought, all dutv knew.
His reverent hands together laid.
The pupil answered and obeyed.
Forth from the place with speed he ran,
To Lakshman came and thus began:
'Where is he? let not Ráma wait,
But speed, the sage to venerate.'
Then with the pupil Lakshman went
Across the hermit settlement,
And showed him Ráma where he stood
With Janak's daughter in the wood.
The pupil then his message spake
Which the kind hermit bade him take;
Then led the honoured Ráma thence
And brought him in with reverence.
As nigh the royal Ráma came
With Lakshman and the Maithil dame,
He viewed the herds of gentle deer
Roaming the garden free from fear.
As through the sacred grove he trod
He viewed the seat of many a God,
Brahmá and Agni, 1 Sun and Moon,
And His who sends each golden boon; 2
Here Vishnu's stood, there Bhaga's 3 shrine,
And there Mahendra's Lord divine;
Here His who formed this earthly frame, 4
His there from whom all beings came. 5
Váyu's, 6 and His who loves to hold
The great noose, Varim 7 mighty-souled:
Here was the Vasus' 8 shrine to see,
Here that of sacred Gáyatrí, 9
The king of serpents 10 here had place,
And he who rules the feathered race. 11
Here Kártikeya, 12 warrior lord,
And there was Justice' King adored.
Then with disciples girt about
The mighty saint himself came out:
Through fierce devotion bright as flame
Before the rest the Master came:
And then to Lakshman, fortune blest,
Ráma these hasty words addressed:
'Behold, Agastya's self draws near,
The mighty saint, whom all revere:
With spirit raised I meet my lord
With richest wealth of penance stored.'
The strong-armed hero spake, and ran
Forward to meet the sunbright man.
Before him, as he came, he bent
And clasped his feet most reverent,
Then rearing up his stately height
Stood suppliant by the anchorite,
While Lakshman's strength and Sítá's grace
Stood by the pride of Raghu's race.
p. 244
The sage his arms round Rama threw
And welcomed him with honours due,
Asked, was all well, with question sweet.
And bade the hero to a seat.
With holy oil he fed the flame,
He brought the gifts which strangers claim,
And kindly waiting on the three
With honours due to high degree,
He gave with hospitable care
A simple hermit's woodland fare.
Then sat the reverend father, first
Of hermits, deep in duty versed.
And thus to suppliant Ráma, bred
In all the lore of virtue, said:
'Did the false hermit, Prince, neglect
To hail his guest with due respect,
He must,--the doom the perjured meet,--
His proper flesh hereafter eat.
A car-borne king a lord who sways
The earth, and virtue's law obeys,
Worthy of highest honour, thou
Hast sought, dear guest, my cottage now.'
He spoke: with fruit and hermit fare,
With every bloom the branches bare,
Agastya graceed his honoured guest,
And thus with gentle words addressed:
'Accept this mighty bow, divine.
Whereon red gold and diamonds shine;
'Twas by the Heavenly Artist planned
For Vishnu's own almighty hand:
This God-sent shaft of sunbright hue,
Whose deadly flight is ever true,
By Lord Mahendra given of yore:
This quiver with its endless store.
Keen arrows hurtling to their aim
Like kindled fires that flash and flame:
Accept, in golden sheath encased,
This sword with hilt of rich gold graced.
Armed, whilom, with this best of bows
Lord Vishnu slew his demon foes,
And mid the dwellers in the skies
Won brilliant glory for his prize.
The bow, the quivers, shaft, and sword
Received from me, O glorious lord:
These conquest to thine arm shall bring,
As thunder to the thunder's King.'
The splendid hermit bade him take
The noble weapons as he spake,
And as the prince accepted each
In words like these renewed his speech:
Footnotes
243:1 The God of fire.
243:2 Kuera, the God of riches.
243:3 The Sun.
243:4 Brahma, the creator.
243:5 Siva.
243:6 The Wind-God.
243:7 The God of the sea.
243:8 A class of demi-gods, eight in number.
243:9 The holiest text of the Vedas, deified.
243:10 Vásaki
243:11 Garnd *
243:12 The War-God.
Next: The Ramayana-Book III-Sec 1- Canto XIII.: Agastya's Counsel.
The Ramayana (/rɑːˈmɑːjənə/; Sanskrit: रामायणम्, Rāmāyaṇam [rɑːˈmɑːjəɳəm]) is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa.
The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest from the kingdom, by his father King Dasharatha, on request of his second wife Kaikeyi. His travels across forests in India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of his wife by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, resulting in a war with him, and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.
There have been many attempts to unravel the epic's historical growth and compositional layers; various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE. Wikipedia
“God / Brahman Speaking To Anne Terri Through The Holy Spirit: Today is August 25, 2018, and I have Asked Anne to begin to place The Ramayana within Our Research Library, for future links to research areas within. AMEN”
*© NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION
Scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare. OCRed and Proofed at Distributed Proofing, Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. Post-processing, computer programming, and additional proofreading by John B. Hare at sacred-texts.com. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose provided this notice of attribution is left intact.
Note: This verse translation by Griffith...was scanned in 2000 from an original copy, which had very poor typesetting. Due to the difficulty of converting this 600 page text to etext, the project was put on hold for several years until OCR technology matured. Finally in 2003, the text was OCR-ed and proofed at Distributed Proofing. However, despite best efforts, there are several places in this text where the proofing was difficult or impossible. These are indicated by asterisks or (illegible). We are in the process of cleaning up these issues and hope to have a definitive version of this text at some point. In the meantime we hope you enjoy this epic, which is one of the most popular tales of Indian mythology.
Scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare. OCRed and Proofed at Distributed Proofing, Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. Post-processing, computer programming, and additional proofreading by John B. Hare at sacred-texts.com. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose provided this notice of attribution is left intact.
Note: This verse translation by Griffith...was scanned in 2000 from an original copy, which had very poor typesetting. Due to the difficulty of converting this 600 page text to etext, the project was put on hold for several years until OCR technology matured. Finally in 2003, the text was OCR-ed and proofed at Distributed Proofing. However, despite best efforts, there are several places in this text where the proofing was difficult or impossible. These are indicated by asterisks or (illegible). We are in the process of cleaning up these issues and hope to have a definitive version of this text at some point. In the meantime we hope you enjoy this epic, which is one of the most popular tales of Indian mythology.